Hypnosis treatment of clinical pain: understanding why hypnosis is useful

Clinical and experimental research literature indicates hypnosis is very useful for severe and persistent pain, yet reviews suggest hypnosis is not widely used. To encourage more widespread clinical application, the author reviews recent controlled clinical studies in which hypnosis compares favorably with other interventions; links advances in understanding endogenous pain modulation to a neurophysiologic view of hypnosis and hypnoanalgesia; relates the neurophysiology of hypnoanalgesia to management of chronic pain; challenges the view that hypnotic pain control is only for the highly hypnotizable patient; and raises issues about how people learn to control pain with hypnosis. Training in hypnotic analgesia may usefully enhance nervous system inhibitory processes that attenuate pain.     

Shorthand Universal Cycles for Permutations

The set of permutations of ??n??={1,??,n} in one-line notation is ??(n). The shorthand encoding of a ₁?a _n ????(n) is a ₁?a _n?1. A shorthand universal cycle for permutations (SP-cycle) is a circular string of length n! whose substrings of length n?1 are the shorthand encodings of ??(n). When an SP-cycle is decoded, the order of ??(n) is a Gray code in which successive permutations differ by the prefix-rotation ?? _i =(1 2 ? i) for i??{n?1,n}. Thus, SP-cycles can be represented by n! bits. We investigate SP-cycles with maximum and minimum ??weight?? (number of ?? _n?1s in the Gray code). An SP-cycle n a n b?n z is ??periodic?? if its ??sub-permutations?? a,b,??,z equal ??(n?1). We prove that periodic min-weight SP-cycles correspond to spanning trees of the (n?1)-permutohedron. We provide two constructions: B(n) and C(n). In B(n) the spanning trees use ??half-hunts?? from bell-ringing, and in C(n) the sub-permutations use cool-lex order by Williams (SODA, 987?C996, 2009). Algorithmic results are: (1)?memoryless decoding of B(n) and C(n), (2)?O((n?1)!)-time generation of B(n) and C(n) using sub-permutations, (3)?loopless generation of B(n)??s binary representation n bits at a time, and (4)?O(n+??(n))-time ranking of B(n)??s permutations where ??(n) is the cost of computing a permutation??s inversion vector. Results (1)?C(4) improve on those for the previous SP-cycle construction D(n) by Ruskey and Williams (ACM Trans. Algorithms 6(3):Art.?45, 2010), which we characterize here using ??recycling??.     

Linkage analysis of susceptibility to ozone-induced lung inflammation in inbred mice

Through a survey of all departments of pediatrics, neurology and neuropathology in Germany, we calculated the incidence of all major forms of leukodystrophy. Only diagnoses based on specific biochemical tests in association with typical findings and/or neuroradiologically proven white matter involvement were accepted. In accordance with these strict criteria, 617 cases of leukodystrophy were found (incidence of all forms: app. 2.0/100,000). Minimal incidence was estimated at 0.8/100,000 for adrenoleukodystrophy/adrenomyeloneuropathy (ALD/AMN), 0.6/100,000 for metachromatic leukodystrophy (MLD), and 0.6/100,000 for Krabbe disease. Thus ALD/AMN is apparently underdiagnosed in Germany. A considerable proportion of leukodystrophies could not be classified in spite of adequate diagnostic procedures in experienced centers.     

A clinical psychology minor.

Survey results from 80 directors of clinical psychology (CLP) programs show that 17 Ss permitted graduate students majoring in other areas to take a minor in CLP. Five programs did not meet the definition of a minor in CLP, but the other 12 programs admitted nonclinical students into a CLP minor complete with practica. Such minor programs may warrant attention during review for accreditation from the American Psychological Association. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A Chinese cultural perspective of nursing care behaviours in an acute setting

This study carried out in Hong Kong, identified 29 Chinese patients' perceptions of the importance of nursing care behaviours in an acute setting using a Chinese language translated version of the CARE-Q instrument. Patients ranked items concerned with 'giving the patients' treatments and medication on time' as the most important and 'sits down with the patient' as the least important. Comparisons are made with the results from other cultures and specific Chinese cultural interpretations are drawn to provide direction for nursing care of Chinese patients in Hong Kong and worldwide.     

Strain-rate effects in the environmentally assisted fracture of a commercial high-strength aluminium alloy (7049)

Specimens of this high-strength aluminium alloy, cut parallel to the short transverse direction, have been tested in tension at slow strain-rates in the T651 condition using various environments: vacuum, dry air, laboratory air and sea-water, with and without prior exposure to sea-water. Accurate measurements of the reduction in area at fracture reveal a reversible pre-exposure embrittlement due to hydrogen absorption that is observed at slow strain-rates, the critical strain-rate decreasing in the less aggressive environments. Recovery from pre-exposure embrittlement only occurs in this material when specimens are subsequently strained in an inert environment, otherwise the pre-exposure effects and the embrittling effect of the test environment are additive.Fractographic examination indicates that absorption of hydrogen leads first to transgranular and then to intergranular brittle failure and the evidence is consistent with the hypothesis that the transition occurs at lower local hydrogen concentrations (i.e. shorter pre-exposure) as the strain-rate is decreased.Stress corrosion tests carried out in tap-water under potentiostatic control reveal that a cathodic and an anodic region of embrittlement both become extended as the strain-rate is decreased. However, fractography and the observed effect of over-aging both tend to confirm that the major embrittling process at the free corrosion potential is hydrogen embrittlement.The results are discussed with reference to earlier results reported for a similar alloy (7075) and apparent discrepancies explained. In particular, the aggressiveness of laboratory air, frequently employed as a reference environment, is emphasized.     

Does touching patients lead to sexual intercourse?

347 male and 310 female licensed PhD psychologists responded to a questionnaire on erotic and nonerotic contact with patients. The 21 Ss who admitted having intercourse with patients advocated and used nonerotic contact with opposite-sex patients more often than other Ss, but they did not differ from other Ss on most demographic variables. On the other hand, the 30 who admitted engaging in nonintercourse erotic contact did not differ from other Ss in their use of nonerotic touching. But these Ss were older and more experienced than the rest of the sample. The differential application of nonerotic hugging, kissing, and touching to opposite-sex patients but not to same-sex patients is viewed as a sex-biased therapy practice at high risk for leading to sexual intercourse with patients. (10 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Enhancing the effectiveness of relaxation-thermal biofeedback training with propranolol hydrochloride.

This article evaluated the ability of propranolol to enhance results achieved with relaxation-biofeedback training. Thirty-three patients were randomized to relaxation-biofeedback training alone (administered in a limited-contact treatment format), or to relaxation-biofeedback training accompanied by long-acting propranolol (with dosage individualized at 60, 120, or 180 mg/day). Concomitant propranolol therapy significantly enhanced the effectiveness of relaxation-biofeedback training when either daily headache recordings (79% vs. 54% reduction in migraine activity) or neurologist clinical evaluations (90% vs. 66% reduction) were used to assess treatment outcome. Concomitant propranolol therapy also yielded larger reductions in analgesic medication use and greater improvements of quality of life measures than relaxation-biofeedback training alone but was more frequently associated with side effects. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Brief report: how far can people with autism go in developing a theory of mind?

Although T cells arise in the thymus, migration of mature postthymic T cells back to the thymus is very limited in adult mice and is restricted to activated cells. In neonates, by contrast, we present evidence that circulating CD4+ and CD8+ T cells with a naive/resting phenotype readily enter the thymus after intravenous injection and remain there for prolonged periods. The migration of resting T cells to the neonatal thymus is largely limited to an unusual subset of cells which lacks expression of the lymph node homing receptor, leukocyte-endothelial cell adhesion molecule 1 (LECAM-1) (MEL-14). Migration of mature T cells to the thymus in neonates may be important for self-tolerance induction.